At the school the other week Ma Mmereki, one of the teachers, held a quiz for all the boys. There were 5 categories, English reading, English spelling, Setswana reading, Setswana spelling and maths. As one of the boys won both the english reading and spelling we were left with 4 winners. It was discussed that we should try and go to one of the exclusive lodges in Shakawe and get the boys to camp there with one of the teachers. So they can experience how the other half live. On the thursday after the quiz, Ma Mmereki and I traveled to Drotsky's Lodge in Shakawe to talk to them and see if they will let us stay there for a reduced price. Once we arrived there we got talking to the manager and she told us that we could bring all the boys for a buffet dinner and full English breakfast at the lodge, then take them to one of their campsites. All for no cost! We travelled back home with smiles on our faces in anticipation of telling the boys about this fantastic prize that they have won. It was also decided that I should drive them there because i helped write the maths questions and helped sweet talk the manager at the lodge.
The next day we packed up the Land Cruiser and Ma Mereki, George, Reuben, Tumediso, Ketsepione and myself traveled down to this luxury lodge. We stopped at Choppies, the only supermarket, on the way down to get some meat and drinks for the post dinner bbq. Once we got there we immediately jumped in the crystal clear water, a change from the murkey green water that we have at the school pool. It was great fun, the boys couldn't stop oogling at this white girl in a bikini. So i tried to distract them by inventing a game that was sort of a cross between vwater volleyball and wrestling. After we had exhasted the boys in the pool, we took them to the campsite. This was a short drive down a track down the river. It was a spacious campsite right next to the river, with a braii grill in the middle. They had even provided firewood for us. After we had set up camp we were went down to the jetty on the river, we would be taxied by boat to dinner. One lovely boat ride later and all 6 of us were sitting down to a buffet dinner. I hadn't even thought that it would be these boys first ever buffet style dinner in their lives. But i soon realised when they all ha no idea what to do. I mean, its not exactly a complicated task, you go up and get food, you eat food, you go back for more food, you eat that food, continue cycle. The waiter brought us a bowl of bread and some sticks of butter. One of the boys just picked up a stick of butter and popped it in his mouth. I then had to explain how you were suppose to spread the butter on the bread and then eat it. I then did as i always do before a buffet, prepare myself mentally and physically for the grueling eating marathon that i was about to endure. The boys didn't quite know what to do so they asked me to go first and i showed them that they could take as much of whatever they wanted. We all joined the que and then i watched the boys aim in straight for the meat. At the school they get one measly piece of meat three times a week, so when they saw a big bowl of chicken, their eyes lit up. Their mountains on their plates made my food look like Cherry Hill compared to their Mount Everest. They really had taken 'You can have however much you want' literally. When we got back to the table the boys immediately grabbed their desert spoons and tucked in to their pasta, then they started ripping apart their chicken. Once they had finished their chicken and pasta, one of the boys wanted more chicken, so he asked if he could have the bones from everybody elses plates. I explained that he could just go up to the buffet counter and get more if he wanted, but he was too scared to go up and ask for more. So i took his plate up for him and got him 2 more pieces of chicken. I however, opted to eat insane amounts of broccoli because of the unvaried school diet of pure carbohydrate. This brocolli was insanely nice, and to this day it was the only time i have ever seen brocolli in Botswana. By the time dessert came round i had to stop the boys from going off to the toilet and washing their spoons. They were worried that they couldn't eat dessert because they had dirty spoons. George then discovered that there was complementary tea and coffee and so decided to take full advantage of that by having a super strong coffee with 6 sugars. By the time we had finished our apple crumble it had gotten dark and so the prospect of a boat ride back was exciting. Unfortunately all the boys were too scared to take the boat back in the dark so they opted for a minibus, so i went with Tumedisu on a night boat trip. Once we had gotten back to the campsite we braiied some meat and danced the night away.
Friday, 22 November 2013
Drotsky's
At the school the other week Ma Mmereki, one of the teachers, held a quiz for all the boys. There were 5 categories, English reading, English spelling, Setswana reading, Setswana spelling and maths. As one of the boys won both the english reading and spelling we were left with 4 winners. It was discussed that we should try and go to one of the exclusive lodges in Shakawe and get the boys to camp there with one of the teachers. So they can experience how the other half live. On the thursday after the quiz, Ma Mmereki and I traveled to Drotsky's Lodge in Shakawe to talk to them and see if they will let us stay there for a reduced price. Once we arrived there we got talking to the manager and she told us that we could bring all the boys for a buffet dinner and full English breakfast at the lodge, then take them to one of their campsites. All for no cost! We travelled back home with smiles on our faces in anticipation of telling the boys about this fantastic prize that they have won. It was also decided that I should drive them there because i helped write the maths questions and helped sweet talk the manager at the lodge.
The next day we packed up the Land Cruiser and Ma Mereki, George, Reuben, Tumediso, Ketsepione and myself traveled down to this luxury lodge. We stopped at Choppies, the only supermarket, on the way down to get some meat and drinks for the post dinner bbq. Once we got there we immediately jumped in the crystal clear water, a change from the murkey green water that we have at the school pool. It was great fun, the boys couldn't stop oogling at this white girl in a bikini. So i tried to distract them by inventing a game that was sort of a cross between vwater volleyball and wrestling. After we had exhasted the boys in the pool, we took them to the campsite. This was a short drive down a track down the river. It was a spacious campsite right next to the river, with a braii grill in the middle. They had even provided firewood for us. After we had set up camp we were went down to the jetty on the river, we would be taxied by boat to dinner. One lovely boat ride later and all 6 of us were sitting down to a buffet dinner. I hadn't even thought that it would be these boys first ever buffet style dinner in their lives. But i soon realised when they all ha no idea what to do. I mean, its not exactly a complicated task, you go up and get food, you eat food, you go back for more food, you eat that food, continue cycle. The waiter brought us a bowl of bread and some sticks of butter. One of the boys just picked up a stick of butter and popped it in his mouth. I then had to explain how you were suppose to spread the butter on the bread and then eat it. I then did as i always do before a buffet, prepare myself mentally and physically for the grueling eating marathon that i was about to endure. The boys didn't quite know what to do so they asked me to go first and i showed them that they could take as much of whatever they wanted. We all joined the que and then i watched the boys aim in straight for the meat. At the school they get one measly piece of meat three times a week, so when they saw a big bowl of chicken, their eyes lit up. Their mountains on their plates made my food look like Cherry Hill compared to their Mount Everest. They really had taken 'You can have however much you want' literally. When we got back to the table the boys immediately grabbed their desert spoons and tucked in to their pasta, then they started ripping apart their chicken. Once they had finished their chicken and pasta, one of the boys wanted more chicken, so he asked if he could have the bones from everybody elses plates. I explained that he could just go up to the buffet counter and get more if he wanted, but he was too scared to go up and ask for more. So i took his plate up for him and got him 2 more pieces of chicken. I however, opted to eat insane amounts of broccoli because of the unvaried school diet of pure carbohydrate. This brocolli was insanely nice, and to this day it was the only time i have ever seen brocolli in Botswana. By the time dessert came round i had to stop the boys from going off to the toilet and washing their spoons. They were worried that they couldn't eat dessert because they had dirty spoons. George then discovered that there was complementary tea and coffee and so decided to take full advantage of that by having a super strong coffee with 6 sugars. By the time we had finished our apple crumble it had gotten dark and so the prospect of a boat ride back was exciting. Unfortunately all the boys were too scared to take the boat back in the dark so they opted for a minibus, so i went with Tumedisu on a night boat trip. Once we had gotten back to the campsite we braiied some meat and danced the night away.
The next day we packed up the Land Cruiser and Ma Mereki, George, Reuben, Tumediso, Ketsepione and myself traveled down to this luxury lodge. We stopped at Choppies, the only supermarket, on the way down to get some meat and drinks for the post dinner bbq. Once we got there we immediately jumped in the crystal clear water, a change from the murkey green water that we have at the school pool. It was great fun, the boys couldn't stop oogling at this white girl in a bikini. So i tried to distract them by inventing a game that was sort of a cross between vwater volleyball and wrestling. After we had exhasted the boys in the pool, we took them to the campsite. This was a short drive down a track down the river. It was a spacious campsite right next to the river, with a braii grill in the middle. They had even provided firewood for us. After we had set up camp we were went down to the jetty on the river, we would be taxied by boat to dinner. One lovely boat ride later and all 6 of us were sitting down to a buffet dinner. I hadn't even thought that it would be these boys first ever buffet style dinner in their lives. But i soon realised when they all ha no idea what to do. I mean, its not exactly a complicated task, you go up and get food, you eat food, you go back for more food, you eat that food, continue cycle. The waiter brought us a bowl of bread and some sticks of butter. One of the boys just picked up a stick of butter and popped it in his mouth. I then had to explain how you were suppose to spread the butter on the bread and then eat it. I then did as i always do before a buffet, prepare myself mentally and physically for the grueling eating marathon that i was about to endure. The boys didn't quite know what to do so they asked me to go first and i showed them that they could take as much of whatever they wanted. We all joined the que and then i watched the boys aim in straight for the meat. At the school they get one measly piece of meat three times a week, so when they saw a big bowl of chicken, their eyes lit up. Their mountains on their plates made my food look like Cherry Hill compared to their Mount Everest. They really had taken 'You can have however much you want' literally. When we got back to the table the boys immediately grabbed their desert spoons and tucked in to their pasta, then they started ripping apart their chicken. Once they had finished their chicken and pasta, one of the boys wanted more chicken, so he asked if he could have the bones from everybody elses plates. I explained that he could just go up to the buffet counter and get more if he wanted, but he was too scared to go up and ask for more. So i took his plate up for him and got him 2 more pieces of chicken. I however, opted to eat insane amounts of broccoli because of the unvaried school diet of pure carbohydrate. This brocolli was insanely nice, and to this day it was the only time i have ever seen brocolli in Botswana. By the time dessert came round i had to stop the boys from going off to the toilet and washing their spoons. They were worried that they couldn't eat dessert because they had dirty spoons. George then discovered that there was complementary tea and coffee and so decided to take full advantage of that by having a super strong coffee with 6 sugars. By the time we had finished our apple crumble it had gotten dark and so the prospect of a boat ride back was exciting. Unfortunately all the boys were too scared to take the boat back in the dark so they opted for a minibus, so i went with Tumedisu on a night boat trip. Once we had gotten back to the campsite we braiied some meat and danced the night away.
Saturday, 12 October 2013
Friday, 11 October 2013
The next day
The day after we encountered the dead elephant we took the kids out on the small boat that worked. The plan was to ferry the boys down the river in groups to the same place that we went the day before so that they could fish all morning. This was the first time that i had been onto the river, and driving this boat down the Okavango was just incredible. Matt and I took it in turns to drive the boat back to get more kids. On the third trip back Matt returned with a grin on his face. He said 'I've just seen a massive crocodile! Its just the other side of those reeds.' I immediately got on the boat and went back to the school to get more kids. Just as we got to the other side of the reeds sure enough there was an absolutely huge crocodile just chilling in the middle of the river. It was at least 3 meters in length. We just steered the boat round it and hoped we didn't run out of petrol. That was a very enjoyable morning, even though it was extremely stressful getting all the reluctant boys back onto the boat at the end. This was a more successful day fish wise, several boys caught large fish, even though they had the most primitive of rods.
Independence Day
On the weekend of the 29th of September the whole of Botswana Stops working for the annual Independence Day holiday. At Bana Ba Metsi it was no different, the children had Saturday to Tuesday off school and manual work. On Monday the big plan was to take the big school boat up the river with all the boys to an island where it was safer to swim in the river. We would camp there for the night and head back the next day. We all trouped down to the boat in the morning, only to find that we could only get one of the 2 motors to work on the boat. No worries. Mr Dow quickly made up a new plan and it was decided that we would drive the boys down in the two Hiluxes a couple of kilometers to a place on the river that is nice and you can catch fish from the shore. The place was beautiful, it would not looked out of place on National Geographic. There was grass on the shore, trees that over hung the river, birds everywhere and reeds on the opposite bank. It was right at the heart of the Delta. We parked the trucks and all of us walked down to the river, on the way we heard a shout from one of the boys. We ran over to see what the fuss was about and we were hit by a stench that burned the inside of your nostrils. The same smell as when we carried back a baby elephant skull from a walk the previous week. Right there before us was an elephant., from the smell it was quite apparent that it was dead. So we ventured over to investigate. Wow, what a magnificent sight. A full grown elephant was there on the floor and it looked like it had only died in the last day or two so most of it was intact. It was strange to feel what the skin felt like and how heavy the trunk was because you will never get an opportunity to get close to a live elephant elephant in the wild. They are just too dangerous. So after this brief diversion we get back on the mission of catching fish.We watched the boys make makeshift fishing lines out of nylon and a stick for the rod. Some of them were wading in the deep mud of the shallows trying to find worms to put on their hooks. For the couple of hours that we were there, not many of the boys managed to catch a fish. All that was apart from the one boy called 'Trust', he managed to catch five! I have absolutely no idea how he managed to get so many more that the boys, perhaps he knew an ancient African fish dance, or perhaps he just had the right hook.
On the way back to the trucks we went back past the dead elephant, i noticed that the tusk underneath the head was still there. As the flesh had rotten slightly it wasn't two hard to pull out. I then had to take it back to the school and hand it in the next day to the Wildlife Fund in order to avoid being imprisoned as a poacher. But for that night i was in possession of a £600 tusk as well as a pair of hands that smelt like rotten elephant.
On the way back to the trucks we went back past the dead elephant, i noticed that the tusk underneath the head was still there. As the flesh had rotten slightly it wasn't two hard to pull out. I then had to take it back to the school and hand it in the next day to the Wildlife Fund in order to avoid being imprisoned as a poacher. But for that night i was in possession of a £600 tusk as well as a pair of hands that smelt like rotten elephant.
Elfants
It was a normal Monday evening. I was about to jump in the cold shower to remove the days dust and sweat from every orifice of my body. I removed my shirt in preparation. Beep Beep, my mobile phone had received a text message.
Message from Seiphuro the school carpenter: 'Elfants at Mmareki's house'
I shouted something to Matt and ran out of the door, i then stopped and ran back to get some clothes. Then sprinted the 100 meters to Mmareki's house dressing while i ran. Matt and I arrived and there it was, about 30 meters through the bush there was an elephant. It was the first one that Matt and I had seen since our time in Africa. Wow. We were told that it was only a small one, but to us it looked pretty big. It was fantastic. To see an elephant in the wild just 150 meters from your own home is definitely something special.
Message from Seiphuro the school carpenter: 'Elfants at Mmareki's house'
I shouted something to Matt and ran out of the door, i then stopped and ran back to get some clothes. Then sprinted the 100 meters to Mmareki's house dressing while i ran. Matt and I arrived and there it was, about 30 meters through the bush there was an elephant. It was the first one that Matt and I had seen since our time in Africa. Wow. We were told that it was only a small one, but to us it looked pretty big. It was fantastic. To see an elephant in the wild just 150 meters from your own home is definitely something special.
Saturday
Last saturday I wanted a break from the boys. So i decided to go for a walk down to the river and find somewhere nice to sit down, listen to music and read a book. Matt thought that was a good idea so came with me. Before long we had found a lovely tree by the river which offered shade, seats and was climbable. I sat down and read my book for what seemed like 10 minutes but turned out to be closer to 2 hours. Then i decided to conquer the tree. I set about preparing myself mentally and physically for this monstrous challenge of climbing to the top of this tree. I powered my way to the top of the tree with the athleticism of a rhino. But i was rewarded for my hard work with absolutely fantastic views of the Okavango Delta. Picture to follow.
An Elephant Not-Sighting
This morning started out as a totally normal day. I got up at about 6.45 (10 minutes early so i could plan my double lesson for that morning), had a cup of tea and headed out at about 7.15. Assembly went without a hitch, Mr Dow as usual said some wise words. After a brief staff meeting a went over to my Standard 5 class to teach them about quadrilaterals. A double lesson flew by and i was soon back at our house. I then had a decision, I could either go to the workshop and help the school carpenter and mechanic with their work. Or i could stay here for a little while and plan the weeks lessons. I choose the second option thinking that I would be very organised this week and not to the lesson plan on the morning of the lesson. This took about 40 minutes. After I had finished this dull task i then headed out to the workshop to help some of the other staff, i had not gone 50 meters when i saw Mr Mosotho (one of the manual teachers) dart behind a building. I heard a few voices so followed him behind the bush and round the back of a building. I then found all of the staff members who were not teaching and the two German volunteers Konstantine and Rafael. I asked what had happened, thinking that maybe someone had lost a ring on the ground or something. Mr Dow just replied 'There were elephants just behind that fence'. I started scanning the bush but I could see no elephants. I heard one of the teachers say that now the only chance you will get to see them was if you climb a tree. I ran down the side of the fence in search of a suitable tree, there wasn't one. A while later i went back to the group of teachers to find out what had happened. Konstantine then told me that they were working in the work shop when they heard elephants nearby, they then went to the fence to see. Konstantine described how he was 5 meters away from a huge elephant only minutes before i arrived! There were 20 in the herd and one came only meters away from the fence. Gutted.
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Immigration
We have to date done 7 trips to the immigration office in Maun, some trips were more successful than others.
Trip number 1:
4th August: This was the day that we arrived, Matt and I went with Peter to the office to get the appropriate forms. This only took an hour to get 2 forms each. (We also got a checklist of things we needed, which we foolishly disregarded)
Trip number 2:
22nd August: This was the time where we came the 8 hours from the school with the express purpose of completing the immigration process. This did not happen. We had non of the right stuff and the immigration staff did not help by being so anal about it. We got another checklist which included a copy of our birth certificates so we obviously could not complete the process that weekend.
Trip number 3:
We had pulled lots of strings to get letters from the right people and photocopies of our passports and birth certificates. We had everything ready and were determined that this was going to be our last visit. Immigration had other ideas. They made Matt fill out his forms again as the paper was slightly crinkled. So while he did that i stepped up to the plate, the time had come, this process was going to be over. I handed the forms over and everything seemed to be ok. The lady stabled them together, stamped them and stuck a bar code on. I breathed a sigh of relief. She then asked for my passport, she examined it for a few moments with a puzzling look. Then ran off to an office at the back to the main immigration guy. This short stocky man emerged (he looked slightly like Cee lo Green). He told me 'You know you were suppose to leave the country 27 days ago?' I responded with 'Wait, what?' Cee lo said 'Yes, you were only allowed 7 days once you came to Botswana. Why have you overstayed?' I then said 'Because it took us longer than we thought to get the volunteer permit.' This was not a good enough answer to satisfy the immigration officer, he told us to take a seat and then swiftly dissapeared behind the counter to his office. He reappeared some time later with police reports, and informed us that we had to go over to the police station and pay a fine worth about 3 months of our wages each. We tried to tell him that we were volunteers and therefore had a very limited amount of money, but he would not listen. We therefore had no choice but to go to the police station and tell them about our situation. So we got back in the car and traveled all of 500 meters to get to the police station. Once we got there we were fortunate enough to get a nice young special constable to help us. We explained our situation and showed him our police report forms, the police officer then disscussed it at length with his fellow officers and came to the conclusion that we had to go back to the immigration office and get the immigration officer to come with us to the police station so it would be official.
Trip number 4:
We entered the immigration and requested to speak with this man, we told him that the police had asked him to come with us the to police station. He obviously thought that we had never actually gone to the police station in the first place, and this was some scheme of ours to try and get ot of the fine (im not quite sure how that would have worked). But anyway, the conversation ended with him telling us that if we had not payed the money to the police by monday then we would have to be detained and deported -for a wonderful moment I felt as if I was in a Hollywood blockbuster. Then reality kicked in. This was not an ideal situation to be in. Back to the police station. We explained the situation again and they agreed that it would be best to try and gather the money over the weekend and come back first thing on monday to sort it all out.
Trip number 5:
We went back to immigration after we had waited for 2 hours at the police station waiting for them to fill in a couple of forms. We then headed over to the immigration office, we managed to get our overstay sorted pretty quickly which was good. but they then informed us that the network was down and therefore couldn't process our permit forms.
Trip number 6:
This was just a brief trip that afternoon to check if the network was back up. It was, but there was a massive queue and they shut in an hour so we decided that it was wise to wait and go back the next morning.
Trip number 7:
This was our final trip this morning. We got there pretty early so were the first to be served. As we walked in some random guy who we had never met said 'Ah its you, your back again?'. All the staff new our situation by now so were pretty quick to help, we didnt even have to tell them what to do. We got our receipts and are currently waiting for the forms to be processed. It should now be a simple task of picking up the permits the next time we are in Maun.
Trip number 1:
4th August: This was the day that we arrived, Matt and I went with Peter to the office to get the appropriate forms. This only took an hour to get 2 forms each. (We also got a checklist of things we needed, which we foolishly disregarded)
Trip number 2:
22nd August: This was the time where we came the 8 hours from the school with the express purpose of completing the immigration process. This did not happen. We had non of the right stuff and the immigration staff did not help by being so anal about it. We got another checklist which included a copy of our birth certificates so we obviously could not complete the process that weekend.
Trip number 3:
We had pulled lots of strings to get letters from the right people and photocopies of our passports and birth certificates. We had everything ready and were determined that this was going to be our last visit. Immigration had other ideas. They made Matt fill out his forms again as the paper was slightly crinkled. So while he did that i stepped up to the plate, the time had come, this process was going to be over. I handed the forms over and everything seemed to be ok. The lady stabled them together, stamped them and stuck a bar code on. I breathed a sigh of relief. She then asked for my passport, she examined it for a few moments with a puzzling look. Then ran off to an office at the back to the main immigration guy. This short stocky man emerged (he looked slightly like Cee lo Green). He told me 'You know you were suppose to leave the country 27 days ago?' I responded with 'Wait, what?' Cee lo said 'Yes, you were only allowed 7 days once you came to Botswana. Why have you overstayed?' I then said 'Because it took us longer than we thought to get the volunteer permit.' This was not a good enough answer to satisfy the immigration officer, he told us to take a seat and then swiftly dissapeared behind the counter to his office. He reappeared some time later with police reports, and informed us that we had to go over to the police station and pay a fine worth about 3 months of our wages each. We tried to tell him that we were volunteers and therefore had a very limited amount of money, but he would not listen. We therefore had no choice but to go to the police station and tell them about our situation. So we got back in the car and traveled all of 500 meters to get to the police station. Once we got there we were fortunate enough to get a nice young special constable to help us. We explained our situation and showed him our police report forms, the police officer then disscussed it at length with his fellow officers and came to the conclusion that we had to go back to the immigration office and get the immigration officer to come with us to the police station so it would be official.
Trip number 4:
We entered the immigration and requested to speak with this man, we told him that the police had asked him to come with us the to police station. He obviously thought that we had never actually gone to the police station in the first place, and this was some scheme of ours to try and get ot of the fine (im not quite sure how that would have worked). But anyway, the conversation ended with him telling us that if we had not payed the money to the police by monday then we would have to be detained and deported -for a wonderful moment I felt as if I was in a Hollywood blockbuster. Then reality kicked in. This was not an ideal situation to be in. Back to the police station. We explained the situation again and they agreed that it would be best to try and gather the money over the weekend and come back first thing on monday to sort it all out.
Trip number 5:
We went back to immigration after we had waited for 2 hours at the police station waiting for them to fill in a couple of forms. We then headed over to the immigration office, we managed to get our overstay sorted pretty quickly which was good. but they then informed us that the network was down and therefore couldn't process our permit forms.
Trip number 6:
This was just a brief trip that afternoon to check if the network was back up. It was, but there was a massive queue and they shut in an hour so we decided that it was wise to wait and go back the next morning.
Trip number 7:
This was our final trip this morning. We got there pretty early so were the first to be served. As we walked in some random guy who we had never met said 'Ah its you, your back again?'. All the staff new our situation by now so were pretty quick to help, we didnt even have to tell them what to do. We got our receipts and are currently waiting for the forms to be processed. It should now be a simple task of picking up the permits the next time we are in Maun.
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Thursday, 5 September 2013
Africa's Worst Sales Assistant
So today we were driving down to Maun, as always we stopped at Choppies in a town called Shakawe to buy some supplies for the trip. After i had bought some crisps and coke from Choppies I nipped into a little shop next door that sold all sorts of bits and bobs. I was on a mission to buy some lipsalve, my lips were dryer than my fathers sense of humour. Anyway, in i went. I went up to the counter and soon spotted what i had come in for, right there behind the glass counter was a large jar of conveniently sized pots of lipsalve. I then did what any ordinary customer would do, I pointed very clearly at the pots of lipsalve, got my wallet out and said 'Dumella (setswanan for hello), could i get one of those please?'
The shop assistant just stared back, shook her head and said 'No'. I smiled awkwardly in anticipation of the punchline to the joke. But she said nothing. There was no joke. So I thanked her for her time and left. My lips are still dry.
The shop assistant just stared back, shook her head and said 'No'. I smiled awkwardly in anticipation of the punchline to the joke. But she said nothing. There was no joke. So I thanked her for her time and left. My lips are still dry.
Swimming
Today to pool finally opened and it was beautiful. Half an hour of relief from the blazing African sun. The pool opens at 2 o'clock, at 2.01 it goes mental. Loads of boys just come jump in, they wrestle in the pool, have races and play tag. You have to understand that this pool is not exactly olympic size. It must be only 8 foot wide and 16 feet long. Oh well, this only makes the fun more concentrated! The boys have made up a game, it's called 'Trying to drown Mr Jack'. This is fun for about 5 minutes, then i need oxygen. Whats fun is picking up one of the small boys and just chucking them in the pool. But Botswana being a land-locked country and its rivers being full of crocs and hippos, most of the boys are not natural swimmers, so we do have to be careful! Defintely one of my favourite things to do at Bana Ba Metsi.
Shakawe
Another crazy week has gone by so quickly. This week Matt was on duty, this meant that he had to get up early everyday to serve breakfast to the boys, conduct the morning assembly, check how tidy the dorms are, supervise study on tuesday and thursday evenings and serve lunch and dinner. Stressful. The good news is that Matt has now finished his duty, the bad news is that it's my turn next week! While Matt was on duty i had to run a few errands, one of which was to drive with Maguowe to Shakawe to pick up a boat engine mechanic. The school boat suddenly sunk and both the engines we fully submerged in the river. We left after my lesson in the morning and got to Shakawe for around 10.30, i had a lovely steak and onion pastry (a lovely change from maize porridge) from choppies, I think it was worth driving all that way just for the pie. We managed to locate the boat mechanic in a nearby village and organised that he would drive up to the school after he had finished his current job. So Maguowe and I went back to Choppies to get all the things that the staff had requested. I treated myself to another pie. I met one of Maguowe's friends who is called 'Problem', after exchanging numbers he said that he would call me up about any business ventures he comes accross in the future. I asked what type of business he had was and he simply replied 'investing'. So then we started the drive back to the ferry, crossed without a problem and headed back down the dirt road for 50 minutes to the school. A successful trip without a problem with a car (although it did have a puncture the following day - but im convinced that it wasn't me).
The Goat
On our second day at Bana Ba Metsi we went out to find a goat. After we had stopped at a few villages to window shop, we eventually found a nice plump goat at a reasonable price. We then had to catch it. We all got into the enclosure which included about 50 goats and kids. We saw the one we wanted and grabbed it by the horns and wrestled it out of the enclosure. We then had to pay the man in the village, the price of the goat was 400 pula (which is about £30) which is not bad for a whole terms worth of meat. We took the goat back on the truck to the school where at Maguowe's house we started the process of preparing the goat. Ben (the german volunteer) volunteered to kill the goat, so after the priest had said a few words he took the knife and killed it. We then hung it up ready for Maguowe to skin and gut. I won't go into details of the skinning but at one point i was holding the goats heart and lungs in my hands - and they were still warm. It got messy. It was the first time that i had witnessed the gutting of an animal bigger than a fish. So i tell you this, the insides of the animal are not the thing that you find most repulsive. The thing you find most repulsive is the smell. As soon as you peirce the bag that holds all the intestines in, you get hit with the most vile smell you will ever smell. One other neat trick that Maguowe showed us was in order to get the left over waste out of the tube attached to the anus, you are suppose to blow air into it. This means that all the pellets of poo come raining down rather like one of those rain sticks you get in primary school orchestra.
So after all this we got hungry. So we decided to locate the liver and fry it up. We must have eaten the liver less than an hour since the goat had been killed. Fresh. Now, whenever we want some meat, we just go to the big freezer in the storeroom and choose the cut of meat that we fancy.
So after all this we got hungry. So we decided to locate the liver and fry it up. We must have eaten the liver less than an hour since the goat had been killed. Fresh. Now, whenever we want some meat, we just go to the big freezer in the storeroom and choose the cut of meat that we fancy.
Friday, 16 August 2013
First week of Driving
I have described how I ran out of fuel in the Toyota Hilux when we were going to river sand. Well the next day Ben, Matt, Gitte and I headed off with MD and Maguwe to the ferry. On the way there it was very uneventful, arriving at the ferry in good time. On the way back Matt had the first drive, after lots of revs he also had an uneventful drive. I then took the wheel, I successfully navigated round the deep sand while we hopped from tuck shop to tuck shop in search of mobile phone credit for one of the teachers. We then headed back to the school. I picked up an old man with a bag of fish to give him a lift to the nearest village and a local worker a little while later. Then after going sideways through a deep bit of sand the car ground to a halt. Ben looked out the window and exclaimed loudly. I rather optimistically asked if the hub cap had come off. Then I went round the back of the car to see the back left tyre had completely shredded. We went to find the spare tyre, jack and wheel spanner in the boot. Unfortunately only the spare tyre was in the back. This was because someone had taken out the jack and spanner when the car went to the services recently so they didnt get knicked. We were in trouble. In the middle of the Okavango Delta in the searing heat and a broken car. several minutes later we stopped another car that drove past on the sand road, he had a jack but not a wheel spanner. We decided that it would be best to jack it up on some stones and then wait for another car with a wheel spanner. While we were waiting i managed to use a pair of plyers to pull out the nail that caused the puncture, I will frame it and put it on my wall. About and hour later another car went past and luckily he had a wheel spanner we could borrow. We swiftly got the shredded tyre off and the spare on. We decided to look at the broken brake hydrolics cable when we got back. Brakes are not important in Botswana.
Bana Ba Metsi - Children of the River
Going down the dusty track that leads to the school was an experience that i will never forget, it wasn't going to be the most spectacular or crazy moment of my year. Instead, it was what all my hard work and all the support i have received from my friends and family had come to and it was just a fantastic moment. I had arrived.
The first thing Matt and I did was to go and see our new house for the year. First impressions were good, from the outside it looked like a spacious condo with outdoor space to barbecue. The inside however was a different story. The inside looked like a seriously disorganised garden shed. There was stuff everywhere. There was dust everywhere. And there were spiders everywhere. It was an enormous mess, but it was our mess. We roughly drew out a plan of action about how we were going to clean the place and then headed on to bed. Our first night in our new home.
The first thing Matt and I did was to go and see our new house for the year. First impressions were good, from the outside it looked like a spacious condo with outdoor space to barbecue. The inside however was a different story. The inside looked like a seriously disorganised garden shed. There was stuff everywhere. There was dust everywhere. And there were spiders everywhere. It was an enormous mess, but it was our mess. We roughly drew out a plan of action about how we were going to clean the place and then headed on to bed. Our first night in our new home.
Mauuuuun (how its actually pronounced)
We were awoken with a cup of tea at eight o'clock this morning by Ann, we were breakfasted and turned around by nine o'clock. After an uneventful drive to Jo'burg we arrived at the terminal, the wrong terminal. After the brief detour we arrived and checked in on our flight to Maun. After saying goodbye to Ann, Matt and I were free again to continue our adventure. The flight to Maun was beautiful, flying over the bush that seemed to go on for millions of miles. The moment finally arrived, the moment that we had both been anticipating for months. We touched down in Botswana.
Shuffling through the tiny terminal we had to fill in imigration forms. After some dodgy forms we were went off to try and find our baggage and then Peter (out host). We had not got 10 steps before a voice behind us proclaimed 'Boys, over here!' This was when we got our first glimps of Peter Dow.
Peter is an absolutely facinating guy. Originally a US citizen he has since changed nationallity to be a native Botswanan and he has lived here since 1977.
Now, just chilling in the Old Bridge Backpackers i am convinced it is the most relaxed place in the world. Top notch.
Shuffling through the tiny terminal we had to fill in imigration forms. After some dodgy forms we were went off to try and find our baggage and then Peter (out host). We had not got 10 steps before a voice behind us proclaimed 'Boys, over here!' This was when we got our first glimps of Peter Dow.
Peter is an absolutely facinating guy. Originally a US citizen he has since changed nationallity to be a native Botswanan and he has lived here since 1977.
Now, just chilling in the Old Bridge Backpackers i am convinced it is the most relaxed place in the world. Top notch.
Monday, 5 August 2013
Arriving in Africa
Touchdown. After an 11 hour flight wedged in the back corner of the airplane, we have finally arrived. Got through passport control with ease and had my first encounter with and African(more to come)! We found our bags on the luggage belt easily, and got stuck into trying to tear off the over overcautious plastic wrap that my mother made me put on my rucksack. We then headed off to pass under the nothing to declare barrier into a completely different world.
Ann was there in her Project Trust shirt as promised and we set of into Johannesburg. After a day of being spoiled with tradition South African cuisine and watching the rugby, we are preparing for our short hop on the plane to Maun tomorrow.
Ann was there in her Project Trust shirt as promised and we set of into Johannesburg. After a day of being spoiled with tradition South African cuisine and watching the rugby, we are preparing for our short hop on the plane to Maun tomorrow.
Friday, 19 July 2013
A bit about the project
Just a quick note about the project I will be working on.
The boarding school, called Bana Ba Metsi, where I am helping out caters for about 55 boys who have dropped out of the main stream Botswanan education system because of socio-economic reasons. The goal of the school is not only to provide them with a formal qualification, but also to teach the boys valuable life skills that will help them get a job in the future. These skills are things like brick laying, carpentry or car mechanics.
My role at the school will be to help them pass their primary leaving certificate by teaching them basic maths and science, but also to help out in the doing manual work in the afternoons. Running extra curricular activities will also be a large part of my job.
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
A simple man requires a simple blog
The purpose of this blog is to give a bit of an insight of my life next year to my friends and family. With that in mind please don't expect this blog to contain massive descriptive accounts of wildlife, or in fact any well written paragraphs of English. This blog is purely to give a snapshot view of what happens in the day to day life of a volunteer working in a school in rural Africa. I will update it as often as I can. I can't wait to leave England so I have some exciting stuff to write about.
Jack
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